Our Decision

Chapter Five – Our Decision

Aria’s POV

 I stayed in the hospital room long after the doctor left.

 The white walls, the faint smell of antiseptic, the distant sounds of footsteps outside… everything blurred into one dull background as my mind kept circling the same word. Pregnant, I was pregnant and it still didn't feel real

 It didn’t feel real.

 It didn’t sit properly in my thoughts, like something spoken about someone else, not me. And yet, no matter how many times I blinked or tried to push it away, it stayed there—firm, undeniable.

 Slowly, my hand drifted toward my stomach, it still feel flat but I knew better.

 And still… everything had changed.

 A life, living inside me.

 My breath trembled as something soft rose in my chest. For a brief moment, it wasn’t emptiness I felt.

 It was presence.

something small to call mine.

Something that had decided to remain when everything else in my life had fallen apart.

 My lips parted slightly, almost forming a smile before it could fully appear.

 I wasn’t alone anymore.

 But that fragile warmth didn’t last.

 Because his voice came back.

 Not spoken. Not present.

 But remembered.

Sharp enough to cut through everything gentle inside me.

 “I never wanted a child with her.”

 “And I could never want her like that… not even once.”

 My fingers tightened over my stomach.

 The warmth shattered.

 Just like that.

 The hospital room suddenly felt colder.

 Harder to breathe in.

And then, I remembered the night…

The night the baby was formed, he didn't just had sex with me willingly, he did it because he was drunk and I allowed him because he wouldn't have, if he wasn't drunk.

 What chance did this child have in his world?

 What place would my baby ever hold in a life that had already rejected me?

 My hand pressed harder against my stomach instinctively, like I could shield something so fragile from a pain it hadn’t even met yet.

 “No…” I whispered shakily. “This can’t be… not like this…”

 But even as the words came out, something inside me shifted.

 Quietly… like a door closing that would never open again.

 I exhaled slowly.

 And I understood.

 There was no going back.

 Not even to him or to that house.

 Not to a life where I kept shrinking myself just to exist beside someone who had never truly seen me.

 I wiped my face with unsteady hands and stood.

 My legs were weak, but they carried me anyway.

Because one truth had already settled deep inside me.

 I would keep this child, not because it was easy.

 But because this child had done nothing wrong in a world that had already been cruel enough.

 And I refused—absolutely refused—for this baby to inherit the loneliness I had lived with all my life.

 When I finally stepped out of the hospital, the evening air brushed against my face softly.

 But inside me… something irreversible had already happened.

 The pain was still there. The heartbreak was still there.

 But beneath it, something new had begun to form.

 A line had been crossed.

 And I would not return.

 Alex’s POV

Alex’s POV

I arrived home, and everywhere was silent, this is unusual.

I loosened my tie and walked inside, glancing around casually.

“Aria” I called out

No answer.

I tightened my brow, “If I should call you again, you are leaving this house now”

But no answer, this was unusual.

Aria would have come out to welcome me, tell me my food is ready.

“Aria!” I shouted again.

I checked through the rooms, and I didn't see her…

I went back to the living room, and that was when I noticed the papers..

I opened it and it was the divorced papers, it was finally signed by her.

Why do 8 feel pain?

I have been pressuring her to sign it

“I am happy right? She finally signed it” I laughed, but it faded away within a second.

Why does she have to sign it now? Why does she have to leave me?

No! Let me call her, she needs to come back to take her things…

I called her once, she didn't pick.

I tried again, it was busy… was she calling someone else?

Just then, my phone rang.

I smiled, “She can't do without me, and I need to teach her a lesson”

But when I picked up the call, it was the doctor's number 

My brows tightened.

I answered.

“Hello?”

“Good evening, Mr. Alex,” the doctor said.

“What is it?” I replied flatly.

A pause.

Then a tone of forced brightness.

“Congratulations.”

I frowned.“…For what?”

Another pause.

This one longer, and hesitatant

“Your wife came in earlier today,” the doctor continued slowly. “She wasn’t feeling well. We ran some tests and…”

“Just say it.”

Then….

“She is pregnant.”

The words didn’t process at first.

Like my mind refused to accept them.

Pregnant.Aria?  Pregnant

My grip tightened around the phone.

“…Repeat that.”

But there was nothing.

The call had already ended.

And for the first time in a long time…

I didn’t feel relieved.

I didn’t feel freedom.

I felt something far worse, which is fear.